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Darwin Keynote

Darwin Day

Darwin Day was founded to celebrate science as an international language much like music.
Darwin’s idea of natural selection as a mechanism of evolution has become a central organizing
principle in biology.

Tuesday 24 February 2015Seminar begins at 7pm in Library Events Area
(cookies at 6:30)

"Darwin: Books, Beetles, and Blasphemy"

David Wooten
Department of Life Sciences
Washtenaw Community College

David A. Wooten is full-time faculty member in the biology department at
Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor, MI. He teaches General Biology, General Zoology, Evolution
and Ecology, Biological Field Study, and Human Anatomy and Physiology. Wooten is also a member of of
the scientific advisory board for the Great Lakes Zoological Society. He received his BS and MS from
Central Michigan University where he researched carapace ultrastructure in turtles and venom ontogeny
in massasauga rattlesnakes. He attended the University of Florida for his doctoral work in zoology
studying the insular ecology of cottonmouths. During his doctoral work, Wooten found his niche in the
classroom and withdrew from research to pursue college teaching. His pedagogy incorporates the teaching
and application of current research findings, evolution, behavioral ecology, and the conservation of
biodiversity into a critical-thinking college classroom. Wooten has been researching and collecting
antiquarian books related to biology and evolution for several years and has culminated those efforts
into a traveling lecture program titled Darwin: Books, Beetles, and Blasphemy.